I would say the crucial missing piece of information here is *how much* they match. After all I match people to whom I could not be related in the past three hundred years Your guys should match fairly clearly, whats the cm sizes involved? . -----Original Message----- From: Robert Paine via <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> To: Patti Hacht <duncaha@gmail.com>; genealogy-dna <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sat, Dec 19, 2015 8:08 pm Subject: Re: [DNA] Three brothers from 1800's and recent DNA matches. Patti Out of curiosity which testing company did the testing and where are you doing the comparisons? Ftdna / family finder has a requirement that people share more than 20cM before they show as a match, This can prevent some matches in common from showing. My county Mayo ancestors from the 1820's lived in a small village and I think 1/2 the people in the village shared the same surname and many of them carried the same very common first names. It also looks like there were some cousin marriages and double cousins. RPaine -----Original Message----- From: Patti Hacht via Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2015 7:11 PM To: genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com Subject: [DNA] Three brothers from 1800's and recent DNA matches. I have a question regarding three Irish brothers. For forty plus years I have been researching my Purtell line from near Kilcolman (Shanagolden area) of Co Limerick, Ireland. I discovered my 2nd gr-grandfather, John Purtell b cir 1816 probably in Kilcolman parish. In the Kilcolman Parish rcds, I find a Laurence Purtell who was the sponsor in several of John's children's baptisms. I have thought that Laurence might be John's brother as he was born abt 1810. Laurence emigrated to Binghamton, NY about 1849. About a year later, my John followed Laurence to Binghamton, NY. Within four years, my John had moved further west to Michigan. Then there was a Robert Purtell, said to be related somehow to my John. Robert was born abt 1808 (probably Kilcolman) and emigrated to LaSalette, Ontario, Canada in the 1840's. Members of Robert's family eventually made their way to Midland, Michigan. Enter DNA testing. My brother and my Uncle (who's mother was a Purtell) both DNA match the great grandson of Robert Purtell from LaSalette. (My sister and I do *not* match the LaSalette Purtell's.) And now my brother and "Purtell" uncle also match a descendant of Laurence's from Binghamton. My question is, is there a way (using our DNA matches) to figure out if Robert b 1808, Laurence b 1810 and John b 1816 might have really been brothers? I don't post much to this list because I just don't understand very much about the testing. Thanks for any help, Patti in Lakeville, MIchigan ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GENEALOGY-DNA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GENEALOGY-DNA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message